Alex Barclay - Harm's Reach

He turned to his wife. ‘I signed a confidentiality agreement,’ he said. ‘Sorry, but I couldn’t say anything, even to you.’

‘It’s just that there are many people in the spotlight who’ve been found guilty of crimes, while protesting their innocence,’ said Ren. ‘Why do you think Derrick Charles’ case caught Robert Prince’s attention?’

‘Maybe he was a Broncos fan?’ said Kenneth. ‘Maybe Derrick Charles had carried out charity work for one of the Princes’ favorite charities? I really don’t know. You should maybe ask him.’

He said it politely, but there was a tone.

Ren realized the irritating sound was Kristen Faule’s fingers tapping on the table. She noticed Ren noticing and she stopped.

‘Has Robert Prince gone to Stateville to meet with Derrick Charles?’ said Ren.

‘Not that I’m aware of,’ said Kenneth. He turned to Kristen. ‘You?’

‘No,’ said Kristen.

‘Does that strike you as odd?’ said Ren to Kenneth. ‘That he donates money, but he hasn’t even met the man?’

‘No,’ said Kenneth, ‘should it?’

‘It’s just...’ said Ren, ‘if I was handing over a large donation, because I believed in someone, I’d want to meet them, because... well, I would venture that, although the money is of a huge help to the accused, the fact that a stranger is standing before them, looking them in the eye and telling them that they believe in them would be what mattered.’

Kristen shrugged. ‘I guess so.’

‘Robert Prince is a busy man,’ said Kenneth.

‘Do you know anything about Laura Flynn and a visit to Stateville?’ said Ren. Could Robert Prince have sent her there?

‘Laura Flynn?’ said Kristen. ‘The murder victim? No.’ She frowned. ‘Kenneth?’

He shook his head. ‘No. Certainly, Robert Prince never mentioned her.’

Ren and Janine walked down the steps into the parking lot.

‘It’s all so strange,’ said Janine. ‘I’ll call Stateville when I get back to the office, see if they have a record of Laura Flynn visiting Derrick Charles.’

‘And I will call my dear friend, the wildly generous Robert Prince,’ said Ren.

‘Hold off until we know more about whether she actually visited Stateville.’

‘Well, I can ask about his donation,’ said Ren, ‘without getting in to anything about Laura.’

Ren was driving behind Janine, not far from Conifer, when she called.

Ren picked up. ‘I miss you too... these past ten minutes have been killing me.’

Janine laughed. ‘I just got a call from Kohler... we got a breakthrough on our Copier Bandits. A couple of kids playing in Pine Gulch Cemetery found a little black “toy”. One of them brought it home, showed it to his mom, but it wasn’t a toy — it was a GPS signal jammer, perfect if the bait money at the bank had a GPS tracker. And, we have traced it to local fool, Morgan Greene. A real idiot; you know, the kind of guy goes into a bar, shoots his mouth off, brags about whatever he can. Smart enough not to mention a robbery, dumb enough to mention GPS signal jammers. He’s twenty-nine, lives with his stoner buddies not far from here. He works for Burt Kendall or used to work for him; he lost his job last week because of the bankruptcy. Apparently the last pay check any Kendall employee got was at the end of March. We’re going to bring him in this afternoon. Kohler and I are going to take him on.’

‘Pincer movement,’ said Ren.

‘It’ll be fun,’ said Janine.

Ren hung up and dialed Robert Prince’s number.

‘Mr Prince, it’s Ren Bryce here — do you have a minute?’

‘I do,’ said Robert. ‘What can I help you with?’

‘I was wondering about your donation to Derrick Charles’ appeal fund...’

‘Yes?’ said Robert Prince.

‘What led you to donate?’ said Ren.

‘I read a piece on him in the Denver Post , during one of my visits,’ said Robert. ‘I believed his defense’s story of an intruder. Derrick had been in debt to many people. He had a lot of enemies. I just couldn’t see that there was evidence that he killed his wife and children. He looked like a very happy family man.’

‘Did you know him personally?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Robert.

‘Had you met him?’ said Ren.

‘No, never,’ said Robert. ‘I called Kenneth Faule because of what I read and I was very impressed with him. That was why I chose The Darned Heart for Conor. I believed it was a place that would straighten him out.’

‘Did any of your contacts — friend, family, otherwise — know Derrick Charles or his family personally?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Robert. ‘You have to understand, Agent Bryce, I’m a man of means and it’s — I don’t want to say “easy” — but it is possible for me to see a cause I believe in and donate to that cause, without knowing more than I read in the article or the letter or whatever medium I come across a story of someone in need. It’s why you hear all the time, an anonymous benefactor paid for the surgery of some poor two-year-old cancer victim that was featured in the newspaper, etc., etc. That’s because of people like me.’

Oh, gooood for youuuu. In the tone of Christian Bale.

‘Don’t you ever question things any deeper?’ said Ren. ‘You’re putting a lot of faith in journalists.’

‘I trust that they have fact-checked, at the very least, on such important cases, and anything I’m not sure of, I follow up on.’

Could he be a little naïve? Or am I?

‘Agent Bryce, is this relevant to what happened to Laura?’

‘I need to make more inquiries,’ said Ren.

‘Do you think I have put her in danger in any way by making this donation?’ said Robert.

I don’t fucking know! ‘I’ll keep you informed,’ said Ren. ‘Thank you for your time.’

Ren arrived back in Safe Streets. Robbie was on a call. Everett got up and came over to her desk.

‘You look overly excited,’ said Ren. ‘I see financials dancing in your eyes.’

‘Well,’ said Everett, ‘I may have found our answer as to why Robert Prince set up the energy company. It turns out that, back in 1953, Walter Prince bought a second tract of land in Williston, North Dakota: a three-thousand-acre cattle ranch. For some reason, though, in January 1958, that land was transferred to a trust fund, managed by the Prince family’s law firm in Butte, Montana. This land was not inherited by either Acora or Robert Prince. It’s likely that they didn’t even know it existed.’

‘Oh my God,’ said Ren. ‘Back in November, Robert Prince was given letters from the Prince mansion that were to do with a Butte law firm.’

‘Well, it mightn’t have made good reading for him,’ said Everett, ‘because the second tract of land does come with mineral rights. The land he got is worthless, but the land the mystery benefactor got is worth anywhere up to fifty million dollars.’

‘Ouch,’ said Ren. ‘But, I don’t get it... there was obviously no bad blood between Walter and Acora and Robert. From what I read, she inherited everything when her father died... and then it went to Robert when she died.’

‘Walter Prince either had someone else he was close to...’

‘... or he was forced to sign over the deeds to someone for baaad reasons,’ said Ren. ‘If Robert Prince found this out, I can’t imagine he would have taken that information lightly.’

‘No,’ said Everett.

‘Could Robert Prince already know who owns this land?’ said Ren.

‘I don’t know,’ said Everett. ‘It’s possible.’

‘Does he have any claim on it?’ said Ren.

‘If it was handed over because of a blackmail situation, yes, but only if the blackmail could be proven.’